


If You Let Me (I'll Love You)

by hopeisnear



Category: The 100 (TV)
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-03-29
Updated: 2017-06-20
Packaged: 2018-10-12 13:01:41
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 3
Words: 5,361
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10491486
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hopeisnear/pseuds/hopeisnear
Summary: Octavia Blake is the new Calculus teacher at Arkadia High School. Raven Reyes is a mute senior, with a brace on her left leg and a story within her eyes. And Ms. Blake is determined to find out what that story is.Octaven. Teacher-Student AU.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This is my first attempt at writing. If you could let me know if you think this is worth continuing that would be great. Leave a kudos or comment, or both. :) That would really inspire me to continue.

Octavia knows being an hour early for her first day on the job is probably pretty ridiculous. But she can’t seem to shake the jitters that kept her up last night until 3 AM. She’s running on about 2 and a half hours of sleep, but she’s so nervous that she isn’t tired at all. It’s probably a good thing.

Being the new Calculus teacher at Arkadia High School, 22 years old and fresh out of college, she’s excited. This is her dream job. Bellamy, her older brother, took her and her best friend Lexa out for drinks on Friday to celebrate.

_"Come on, O.” Bellamy laughed. “Be honest here. Who has the better shot at Clarke; Lexie here or your amazing, charming big brother?”_

_Bellamy flashed his pearly whites and leaned against the bar next to her. She narrowed her eyes and flickered them to the left to her best friend who reciprocates a dazzling smile, then back to her brother._

_“Bell, no offense or anything, but I don’t take Clarke for the type to be attracted to meat heads.” She chuckled, then turned around to give Lexa a wink and a fist bump. Bellamy scoffed and downed the rest of his whiskey._

_Lexa laughed then said, “Yeah, Bellamy, I’ve met Clarke and you’re definitely not her type.”_

_Clarke is Octavia’s soon to be coworker at Arkadia. She teaches an art class that Lexa’s nephew Aden was a student in last year._

_Lexa’s sister Costia died in a car accident 3 years ago, and Lexa had been taking care of the teenage boy every since._

_The art class seemed to have a positive effect on Aden. It’s the first thing he’s been genuinely passionate about since the accident, and Lexa couldn’t have been more grateful for the beautiful woman behind her nephew’s newfound happiness._

_Octavia met Clarke when she would sometimes pick Aden up from school when Lexa had to work late. Lexa’s had the biggest crush on her since basically the first time they made eye contact, but has always been too nervous to ever ask her out._

_“Says the girl who can’t get two words out whenever she walks in the god damn room.” Bellamy supplied with a smirk. Lexa’s face is beet red and it’s hilarious._

_“Yeah, Lexa has this whole ‘turning into a flustered nerd’ thing about her that I think Clarke likes.” Octavia eased into the conversation._

_“I’m not a nerd.” Lexa supplied with a grimace, red tinting her cheeks. She looked down into her virgin strawberry daiquiri and took a sip._

_“Right.” Octavia drawled. “I’ll be sure to tell her about your Avengers comic book collection at work on Monday.” Dodging a smack on the head and a “Do it and I’ll kill you.” from her left and a deep, throaty laugh from her right._

Don’t get her wrong, she loves to drink and party just as much as the next young person, but for as long as she can remember her dream has been to become a teacher like her mom.

Bellamy and Lexa both know this, and that’s why they decided to give her a moment of reprieve before she delves into her profession entirely.

The remainder of the weekend for Octavia was spent in a haze of trying to prepare the syllabus, roll sheets, and lesson plans for the first couple of weeks. She wanted to be one hundred percent ready and focused.

She had just been hired over the summer, having graduated college in May. Clarke disclosed that the last Calculus teacher, Mr. Pike, had a disagreement with Principal Jaha that led to his termination.

She doesn’t know much about her boss yet, having only met him once for the interview and a phone conversation on her getting the job. She does know, through the grapevine that is Clarke Griffin, that he wants the absolute best for his students.

She and Clarke had gotten pretty close over the summer, and it’s nice to have a familiar face amongst her new coworkers.

The day had finally come and here she was, an hour early, pacing the teacher’s lounge with a steaming cup of coffee in hand.

She opted for a professional look for the first day, wearing a black pencil skirt, white blouse, and a red blazer with red heels to match. Her hair, black and wavy, flowed freely down her back.

Her ex boyfriend had always said red looked good on her.

She and Lincoln had ended on a pretty decent note. It was a mutual agreement that hopefully will result in them being able to call on each other as friends whenever the need to arrives.

Her failed relationship, however, was the last thing on her mind right now.

She was cold.

The light blazer she had on did little to protect her arms against the chill in the air.

She took another sip of her, now cooling, coffee and turned in the opposite direction to continue her pacing and was met with a familiar face.

“Ms. Blake, I see you’ve become acquainted with the coffee machine already. That thing has saved many of our faculty members from breakdowns throughout the years.” Principal Jaha stood in front of her with a broad grin, perched against the doorframe with his arms crossed in front of his chest.

Octavia returned his warm smile as she set her coffee mug on the table to her left.

“Good morning, Mr. Jaha. I thought it would help my nerves but it just seems to be making me more anxious.” She chuckled.

Common sense would have told her that caffeine equals more energy, but her mind couldn’t process that right now.

Maybe when her first day was over.

“No need to be anxious. I promise you, these are good kids. They make the job worth it.” Jaha supplied with a soft look in his eyes.

Octavia can tell that what Clarke said is true.

  
The faculty at Arkadia High aren’t simply here to collect a pay check, they all genuinely care about these kids and their education.

~**********If You Let Me**********~

The day had actually been progressing pretty well. All of the students in her first 3 periods were surprisingly quiet and respectful.

It was syllabus day after all.

No work just yet, just learning names and what is to be expected from them and what to expect within the course.

By the time fourth period rolled around, Octavia’s jitters had subsided, now replaced with a calm sense of routine from doing the same things for the last 3 hours.

_Ms. Blake_ was scripted neatly on the board behind her as she sat at her desk and watched her students for the hour slowly trickle in.

She smiled at a lithe, tall boy with shaggy hair, ski goggles around his neck, who was wearing an awkward smile as he entered the classroom and made his way to a desk beside an Asian boy in the middle of the room.

As the bell sounded, Octavia stood and rounded her desk as a skinny brunette entered the classroom slowly, her left leg encased in a brace and lamely dragging beside her.

Octavia vaguely wondered what happened.

Her hair was pulled back into a ponytail. She had on a white shirt, olive green jacket with jeans to match.

The girl didn’t look up, just slowly made her way to the back and sat down in the far right corner of the classroom.

She was staring.

_Focus._

“Good morning class. My name is Octavia Blake. And I know we’re all around the same age, but please call me Ms. Blake.” The class laughed softly and she continued on with her introductions. She went over the syllabus as much as she could before deciding to call attendance, what she had been doing at the beginning of class.

She went back to her desk, grabbed a pen, flipped open her roll book, and sat down.

“Okay, first we have Collins?” She asked without looking up. Fourth period was the period before lunch, so she wanted to get everyone marked in before the bell sounded.

This would have been so much easier if she would have done it at the beginning.

“Here.” She heard a soft, male voice respond.

She marked him as present and continued on through Wells Jaha (apparently Principal Jaha has a son), Monty Green (the Asian boy), and Jasper Jordan (the skinny boy with the ski goggles and awkward smile).

“Reyes?” Octavia asked, pen hovering over the box for the date.

Silence.

“Is Reyes here?” She tries again, looking up from her roll book.

“Raven’s over there.” Wells supplies with a sympathetic look, pointing to the girl looking out of the window in the right corner of the room. “She doesn’t talk much. Teachers learn to get used to it.”

This makes Octavia pause. She wonders, why doesn’t she talk? Has anyone ever asked?

And again, what happened to her leg?

Octavia finds herself staring at the girl, now that her head is up and not hanging down.

She has a sharp nose and subtle lips. Brown hair and brown eyes. Her eyes are distant as she looks outside, as if there aren’t people in the room talking to or about her.

_She’s beautiful._

But there’s a untold story in her eyes, and it makes Octavia’s heart clench.

At that moment the bell rings, and Octavia is left wondering more about this Raven girl as she watches her gather her things and slowly shuffle outside of the classroom for lunch.

 

 


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know I kind of pumped this second chapter out kind of fast, but I just wanted to get everything flowing. I'm going to start taking a little more time working on chapter length and such (I'm also a full time college student, bummer). Leave a kudos or comment and let me know what you think. Kudos! Comment! Enjoy! :)

Lexa is an idiot, she’s sure of it.

They had been hanging out at Lexa’s apartment, playing Monopoly (because Lexa’s a nerd and Octavia has to accommodate… not that she enjoys it… _obviously_ ) and then Lexa tells her that she was gonna make a strawberry cake (because Octavia _loves_ strawberry cake, specifically Lexa’s).

Octavia skidded into the kitchen, sliding across the floor in her cat socks, only to find that there were absolutely no eggs for this magical cake that she was now craving.

Which lands her here in Walmart, trying to find some fucking eggs.

How can you bake a cake without _eggs_?

Octavia continuously asks herself this question as she walks down the dairy isle in Walmart.

The wheels of her cart squeak as she makes her way down the isle, eyes squinting at all of the labels on the eggs.

_Grade B. Medium. Small. Grade AA._

She grabs a carton of Grade A Large eggs on a whim. If Lexa can’t buy her own damn eggs she’ll just have to get what Octavia’s money can buy. Which isn’t much.

Did she mention how little teachers make?

Right. But she’s in it to educate the minds of young people, for the impact she’ll have on their lives, and most importantly for her _mom_ , not the money.

She turns down the ‘Breakfast & Cereal’ aisle and smiles at an elderly couple she passes on her right. She briefly wonders if she’ll ever get to grow old and gray with someone. Will she get to argue over the kind of milk that they buy for cereal at that age.

Because who even _likes_ Almond milk?

No one. Just Lincoln.

As she continues walking down the isle, she spots a familiar brace and lets her eyes travel up toned legs to the face of her student.

Raven’s face is contorted in confusion, lower lip trapped between her teeth, eyes scanning the different brands of cereal in front of her as if she’s solving one of the difficult problems in math class.

Raven’s smart.

Or at least in math, she’s fucking brilliant.

Octavia recalls some of the grades she’s recorded from the girl over the 3 weeks that they’ve been in school.

_98\. 97. 100. 95._

Octavia wished she knew that much about derivatives and rates of change when she was a senior. It took a couple of years of practice to master.

Even in the 3 weeks of class, she still has not heard one word from the girl. She would sit at the back of the classroom, chewing on the eraser of her pencil, eyebrows furrowed in concentration on the problem in front of her.

And whenever she turned in her work, the result was always the same.

_A+_

“It’s really that hard to choose huh?” Octavia chuckled, slowing her cart to stop beside the girl, forearms leaning against the cart in front of her.

Raven’s head turns at the sound of her voice and recognition alights her features. Her face softens.

But she says nothing.

Her focus goes back to the cereal in front of her and she pulls habitually at the sleeves of her olive green jacket. Octavia purses her lips and just stares at the side of her ponytail as she shifts her weight from one leg to the other.

“Cinnamon Toast Crunch is my favorite.” She supplies. “My brother used to tell me that Frosted Flakes was only for boys.”

Nothing.

_“Mariah report to register 5, Mariah report to register 5.”_ Is heard over the loud speaker.

She lets out a breath and decides to try again another day.

“See you in class on Monday, Raven.” She says in a soft voice and begins to push her cart around the girl and down the isle to go check out.

She misses the curious gaze aimed at her back, and her student grabbing the Cinnamon Toast Crunch box and placing it in her basket next to a first aid kit.

~**********If You Let Me**********~

“You know Lex, usually if you’re gonna ask someone out it’d be just the two of you.” Octavia said, sitting down on couch, dropping the remote between her and Lexa. Lexa reached over and grabbed some popcorn from the bowl in Octavia’s lap and threw it in her mouth as she settled back on her side.

“I just want her to be comfortable, Octavia. Is that so bad?” Lexa pressed, between chews. “She’s knows you and she knows Aden. I’m hoping she’ll want to get to know me too.”

Lexa had finally grown the, metaphorical, balls to ask Clarke out. But the ‘date’ to the fair next month includes both Octavia and Aden as buffers.

“Listen to yourself Lex, she _knows_ me and she _knows_ Aden. So there’s no reason for us to be there for her to _get_ to know you.” Octavia jibes while reaching for the remote. She settles on a rerun of Scandal.

“It’s a _fair_ , O. You and Aden would probably be there regardless of my date with Clarke anyway.” Lexa laughs. And Octavia huffs. “Listen, it’s not like you have to be a third wheel, because I’m sure Aden is gonna run off with his classmates anyway. Just come, then we can all go our separate ways.”

“How would you know how I would wanna spend my Saturday night off?” Octavia throws a piece of popcorn at the girl opposite her.

“Please, when you _hear_ the words ‘funnel cake’ you practically turn into a rabid dog. You’re not gonna miss out on that.” Lexa gives a throaty chuckle and throws a piece of popcorn back at Octavia, which she catches in her mouth and gives a couple fist pumps.

“Aw shut up and watch the damn tv.” Octavia grumbles. Olivia and Papa Pope heatedly argue on the television in front of them.

~**********If You Let Me**********~

“Raven if you need a ride you know I don’t mind.” Octavia hears the familiar voice of Wells say.

She’s walking down an adjacent corridor to the hallway of the main entrance, her heels clicking softly against the newly waxed floor. She slows her pace to listen, peaking around the corner.

Wells stands to Raven’s right, leaning against a row of lockers. Raven’s face is hard as she looks into her own locker, rummaging around through her books. Wells sighs.

“I’m sorry she keeps doing this to you.” He adjusts the strap to his bookbag on his right shoulder and takes a step back, his face sad.

Raven doesn’t say anything, her face just hardens even more and she slams her locker shut, brushing past Wells towards the entrance, her braced leg limply following. He follows after her like a kicked puppy. He grabs her left wrist to stop her.

“Look Raven, I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have said that.” Raven snatches her wrist out of his grasp and looks down, eyes shining and avoiding his gaze. Wells lets out another breath.

“I’ll see you tomorrow. Be safe Rae.” He gives her one last look, before sliding past her, throwing his jacket hood over his head to protect it from the rain, and walking out the door.

Raven releases a hard breath and sits down in a chair seated outside of the main office by the door. Her elbows settle on her knees as she digs the balls of her hands into her eyes to ease the pressure behind them.

Octavia takes this moment to round the corner, stepping lightly as she approaches her student. She stops a few paces away and watches as Raven tries to get her feelings under control.

She turns her gaze to the drizzle that has started outside of the school doors and decides to sit down in the chair placed beside Raven.

She hears a sharp intake of breath as the younger girl straightens, wiping at the couple of tears that had managed to escape, face going stoic and staring at nothing in front of her.

Octavia chooses to look directly in front of her as the girl beside of her is doing, instead of staring (because staring is rude).

“So,” She begins. “It’s raining outside.” Stating the obvious.

Raven lets out a tired breath, unconsciously massaging the joints underneath her brace. Octavia glances at the action then looks away.

“Okay so you have one or two options here. You can, one, let me drive you home. Or, two, take this umbrella.” She produces a green umbrella with black cats on it from her purse. “Blue Honda. Either way I’m leaving this here, so do what you want with it.” She stands up and sets the umbrella down in the seat of the chair.

Octavia gives her one last look and hopes she takes the bait. Raven is looking off to her right, away from her. Octavia pulls out a second small, black umbrella and heads for the door.

By the time she makes it outside, the once light drizzle is now fully pouring down. Heels were not a great idea for the forecast. She stands on one leg, takes off one heel and then repeats the action with the other.

When she makes it to her car, both of her feet are soaked and she hopes she won’t be sick from this.

She cranks her car up and answers a text from Lexa about ostriches being able to run faster than horses? She swears Lexa is such a dork. And another text from Bellamy about his latest failed ‘relationship’. Her brother is a whore and she accepts this, even though he hasn’t just yet.

She hears a tap on her passenger side window and drops her phone.

It’s Raven. Standing in the rain and looking unsure.

Octavia quickly unlocks the door and helps her open it so that Raven can settle in as she closes the umbrella and then the car door.

“You scared the shit out of me.” She laughs and quickly cringes. “Sorry, you didn’t hear that.” She bends down to pick up her phone that fell onto the floor board and puts on her seatbelt.

“Seatbelt.” She reminds Raven. The younger girl looks skeptical as she quickly puts it on. Octavia rolls her eyes and says, “I drive perfectly fine, just rather be safe than sorry.”

Raven gives a subtle nod but otherwise just pulls at the sleeves of her olive green jacket.

Must be a nervous habit.

“So you gonna tell me where you live or are we gonna just ride out this storm sitting in my car?” Octavia drawls, turning in her upper body to face Raven.

Raven’s cheeks tint pink and she pulls out her iPhone. Her fingers work quickly and she soon sets her phone on Octavia’s dashboard, directions to her house already inputted.

“Alright then.” Octavia says. She puts her car in drive and follows the directions the robotic voice gives her.

Octavia turns on a random radio station and let’s the music fill the silence.

After a couple of turns she asks, “So, are you and Wells friends?” She glances at Raven and looks back toward the main road.

She looks back again when she doesn’t receive a verbal answer (why did she think she would?) and catches a small shrug.

“Good. He seems nice enough.” Octavia gives a nod to herself.

She wonders how many other people take out the time to ask or see if Raven is okay. Wells seems like he really does care for her. Maybe he’s an ex boyfriend, Octavia thinks.

She lets the sound of Drake’s voice fill the silence the rest of the drive. After a couple minutes, she realizes she’s headed towards her own neighborhood. She turns on a street two streets from her own and stops in front of a small blue house.

_You have reached your destination._

“And here we are.” Octavia draws out.

Raven looks outside, towards the house with a distant look in her eyes.

“You can use my umbrella to make it inside. It’s no problem.” Octavia supplies with a small smile.

Raven looks back at her, almost as if she had forgotten she was there. She gives a small nod and grabs her phone, locks it, and puts it in her pocket. She opens her door and opens the umbrella.

“I’ll see you tomorrow, Raven.” Octavia manages to get out as the girl begins to get out of the car.

Raven catches her eyes and her teeth catches her bottom lip. She manages a half smile, but the door is closed and she’s on her doorstep before Octavia could even imagine it was even there.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> What did you think? Leave a kudos or comment. :) More to come!


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I honestly wanted to scrap this whole fic after rereading the first two chapters. I love the idea, but not exactly how I started it. *sigh* But I decided to go ahead and continue writing. So here's chapter 3. Kudos. Comment. Let me know what you think. :)

_I miss you._

Three words that ruined Octavia’s entire day. Lincoln had texted her, saying how sorry he was about the break up and that he wanted to make it up to her. He was ready to make it ‘right’. She couldn’t deny that she still had love for him, he revealed a side of her that she didn’t even know was there and she’d always appreciate him for their happy memories.

The break up wasn’t even _bad_ , they just.. went different directions. A relationship while in college became more of a hindrance than it was a stress reliever for them. And when they did have free time, they found themselves with their individual friends more than with each other. They made an agreement that they would still be friends if they needed each other, but now he wants to get back together?

She’d been in her thoughts all day. Robotically addressing her class and giving them a worksheet to keep them busy for the day while she repeatedly read his texts and stared into space.

She wasn’t sure if she wanted to go back to that, honestly. She was fine with where she was now.

She was pulled from her thoughts by a shadow of a student hovering in front of her desk. She looked up only to find Raven in front of her, eyes downcast and hands gripping the worksheet she was supposed to be working on. Her eyebrows were furrowed. It wasn’t often that Raven needed help, if at all. Octavia generally assumed she’d already taken the course because of how well she’d been doing compared to her other classmates. It was kind of odd that she, apparently, was struggling now, but Octavia gave her a small smile anyway.

“Do you need help, Raven?”

The girl in question nodded and bit her lip, but made no move to come closer.

“Why don’t you sit down?” Octavia gently offered.

At that, Raven slowly limped her way to the chair seated beside Octavia’s desk, her brace squeaking as she sat down. Octavia swiveled around to face her, thoughts of Lincoln fading to the back of her mind. She grabbed the worksheet and a pencil, and began to explain the process and correct formulas to make solving the problems easier.

Raven listened respectfully. Her eyes would catch Octavia’s in the middle of an explanation and she’d look so deeply at her that Octavia would stumble over a few words, look down, and continue on with her explanation.

“Why don’t you work this one?” Octavia set the pencil down on the worksheet in front of her, waiting for Raven to take it.

Raven nodded, grabbed the pencil, and bent over the worksheet to begin writing. Octavia leaned back, rolling herself out of Raven’s space. Today Raven had, surprisingly, forgone her olive green jacket. She watched the girl’s forearm muscles flex as she wrote. There was a purple patch of skin on the inside of her arm that made Octavia’s stomach drop. (A bruise? Maybe she burned herself on her curling irons. Happens to Octavia all the time.) Her ponytail had fallen to the left side of her face, and her brow was creased in concentration. The tip of her tongue peaking out of her lips. _She’s beautiful._

Octavia didn’t make a habit out of finding any of her students attractive. But she couldn’t deny Raven’s beauty. She knew that there was more beneath the surface. She knew there was more to her olive green jacket and brace. To her silence. There was a story there. And she couldn’t deny that she’d taken a liking to the quiet girl.

Raven stopped writing and set her pencil down. Octavia rolled forward again to look at the problem. It was perfect. She raised her eyebrow.

“Good job, Reyes.”

Raven’s cheeks tinted pink. Octavia gave her a sly look.

“You didn’t need any help, did you?”

(No. Raven didn’t need any help. She could do this stuff in her sleep. But if she hadn’t asked, Octavia would still be in her thoughts.)

Raven’s face turned red. She shrugged her response. Octavia giggled as the lunch bell rang.

“Show off.” Octavia got up from her chair and stood at her door, waving goodbye to her students as they went.

The halls cleared and she sighed, mind going back to Lincoln. She turned around and sucked in a sharp breath at finding Raven standing behind her, hand clutching her chest in fear.

“ _Jesus_..” Octavia breathed. “You scared me.” She laughed.

Raven’s mouth slipped into an amused smile. She extended her left hand, and Octavia found her green umbrella that she had lent Raven in her palm. She had totally forgot about that.

“Oh, thank you!” As she went to grab it, she noticed Raven had picked up the black expo marker from the board directly beside them. With her left hand free, she adjusted the strap to her book bag and turned towards the board.

_Thank you._

She wrote it in loopy cursive writing and capped the marker. Octavia smiled, toothy with wrinkles in the corners of her eyes.

“You’re welcome, Raven.”

Raven blushed and looked down. A moment of silence passed between them before Raven set the marker back down on the board and walked passed Octavia and out the door.

She smiled for the rest of the day.

  
~*******If You Let Me*******~

It wasn’t that Raven couldn’t talk. She just… didn’t. It’s not like anyone ever listens her anyway. Especially not her _mother_. Her extremely alcoholic and drug addicted mother. The woman who steals every last dime that Raven could possibly get her hands on, just to pay for her next fix; leaving Raven to sleep on an empty stomach every single night.

Not that she was complaining. The school’s breakfast and lunch sufficed in keeping her from starving to death. She only held out hope for graduation, so she could get away from her mother for good.

She made sure to keep her grades up. Focusing solely on her academics so that she wouldn’t _need_ her mother to help pay for college. Raven was kind of afraid what would happen to her mom once she’s gone. There were plenty of times that she almost overdosed, leaving Raven to coax her back to consciousness.

The first time she had ever tried to call 9-1-1 when she was 13, she was thrown down a flight of stairs. She nursed a sprained ankle, bruises on her body, and a cut on her right eye brow for about a week.

That was the last time she ever tried to call for help.

She assumed one day when the woman finally OD’d she’d be the one left to close her lifeless eyes. Raven’s stomach would twist and turn whenever she’d come in, only to find her mom slumped against the couch, mouth slightly parted and breathing shallow. As much as she despised her for everything she put her through, she was her mom after all.

There were days that Raven would come home from school, and her mom would act totally fine. She’d smile and talk to her. She’d even cook; Raven’s favorite – spaghetti. But it never lasted long, she would eventually try to coax Raven into lending her money. She would grow angry when Raven would insist she didn’t have any. She’d slap her and tear her book bag out of her hands, ripping the zipper as she frantically rummaged through Raven’s books and supplies.

Raven would hold her stinging cheek with a frown on her face, letting silent tears stream down her face as her mother continued her frenzied search. Her mother would growl and drop her book bag, disappearing into the kitchen. She’d grab any appliance she could get her hands on – a toaster, a microwave, a blender – and she’d be out the door. She’d pawned so many of their things over the years, and now there wasn’t much left.

Raven stopped talking about 3 years ago.

She hadn’t heard her own voice in a long time. She’s not even sure what she’d even sound like anymore.

Wells had been her best friend. Before high school, before the drugs, before the.. _abuse_. He was her best friend – up until the event that led to her brace on her leg. It changed her. Feeling so _useless_. She cut him out of her life. She didn’t want to smother him with her shitty life anymore. Her main focus was to just get out now.

Raven knew he never stopped caring about her though. She’d catch his long looks of concern in the hallways. But she’d look the other way pretending not to notice, her skin prickling with pent up emotion.

But she was determined. All she wanted was to bide her time, until it was time to go to college.

Until Ms. Blake, of course.

Her kindness and determination ignited something in Raven. She found herself smiling whenever the young teacher was around. She would get nervous when Ms. Blake spoke to her, light butterflies fluttering in her stomach.

Every since Ms. Blake had dropped her off at home three weeks ago, Raven noticed more things about her now. She noticed how her eyes grew bright when teaching. How she talks with her hands, making extravagant motions as she explains things. How she had to stand on the tip of her toes to reach the top of her board when writing a problem.

But most of all, she noticed how she’d linger beside her desk when walking around the classroom when they had work to do. Raven would look up into her eyes, and Ms. Blake would avert hers quickly and clear her throat, continuing her leisure up and down the rows of students. So when Raven noticed her detached demeanor in class, she wanted to do something about it.. to take her mind off whatever it was that dampened her mood.

Raven had a crush, she decided.

And boy, _oh boy_ , was this bad.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Love it? Hate it? Should I throw the whole fic away? Lol


End file.
